Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Shards
by Gravitas8
Summary: It's been a long time since any humans arrived in the Pokemon world, but five years after the sudden appearance of giant chasms leaves the world fragmented and broken, two of them somehow appear amid the chaos.
1. Chapter 1: A Patron and a Name

"Hey! Hey, are you all right?"

_Ugh…_

"Come on, you've got to be fine, right? Okay, hold up. Just let me… oh! Oh good. You're breathing at least. Um… maybe I should go fetch someone. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good idea. Wait here. Oh, uh… can't… you're not awake. Right. I knew that."

The creature on the beach coughed, eyes flashing open to an unfamiliar scene. Bubbles floated across a brilliant, painted sunset, magnifying the brushstrokes of the clouds. She pushed her limbs under her body and wobbled to a stand before lurching forward and falling back to the sand.

"Oh! You- you're awake! Oh gosh, that's good."

The creature blinked. What was this thing in front of her? It looked like a toddler in a night-sheet with a very strange, green bicycle helmet, but she couldn't be entirely sure.

"Um… do you need help? I'm not very strong, but I think I can help you stand. Here." The toddler raised its arms, which seemed to lack any sort of hands, and closed its eyes.

Suddenly, the creature was lifted to her feet. She looked down. Hands and knees. No. Paws.

_Paws_.

She screamed. "I- I have paws! Oh my word, what is this? I don't recall being a quadruped—not that I recall much anyways—but still… I don't… I'm not…"

"What are you so scared of? You're an eevee, right? What's the matter with paws?"

The… eevee—that was right, wasn't it?—stared at the toddler. "And… what's an eevee, exactly? I've never heard of that. Is it some kind of acronym or abbreviation? Like TV and television?" She didn't know what those were, but it sounded about right.

The toddler tilted its head. "First off, I have no idea what those are, and two, an eevee is just an eevee. There's nothing to explain. You're a pokemon, just like me." It sort of gestured at itself. "Oh, and since you seem to be lacking in your species knowledge, I'm a ralts."

The eevee squinted at the ralts. "What's a pokemon?" she asked.

"You don't know what a pokemon is?" The ralts threw up its arms again, and the eevee wondered if it was going to do that funny lifting thing again.

It didn't, and instead smacked its helmet. "Of course… you're probably like the pokemon in the stories, the ones that turn from humans into pokemon and save the world from time to time. It's true there hasn't been one like that in like… five centuries, if my memory serves me right."

The eevee flicked her tail and peered at the ralts. "So what does that make you? A guide? An inseparable companion? The chosen one?"

"It makes me an incompetent freak," the ralts spat. Then it paused for a moment and reconsidered. "If the stories are true, I mean. It seems like whoever finds the human ends up getting rescued a lot, which is kind of boring. I'd kind of like to do the rescuing, you know?"

"You seem a lot better suited to rescuing than me," the eevee offered.

"Thanks. Name's Titania, by the way, but everyone calls me Nia." Grinning, she stuck out her hand.

The eevee took it. "I haven't got a name," she explained, "but I'm sure we can remedy that. It's nice to make your acquaintance, Nia." Placing her paw in Nia's hand, she added: "and I hope we can be good friends."

"Aww! I think I'd like that," Nia said. "Now come on! Once we get to the city, we can test out all the precedents from the humans who came before you." Shee held fast onto the eevee's paw and closed her eyes before a pastel blue bubble surrounded them both.

The ground fell beneath the eevee's feet, shifting this way and that until she found footing on smooth, orderly cobblestones. As soon as she could stand, the blue bubble dissipated, leaving the eevee with a panorama of new scenery to enjoy.

Surrounding the cobblestone courtyard were several two-story buildings made of dark wood and creamy plaster. Their windows were left open, mostly, but with the huge flowers sprouting from their window boxes, it wasn't easy to tell. The sky above was still painted orange and pink, but it was clearer here than at the beach.

"My teleportation is pretty good," Nia said, putting her hands on her hips. "Sometimes, I wander for hours without any notion of where I am, but I can always get home at the end of the day. It's nice having that kind of freedom, though it doesn't help much anymore."

The eevee cocked her head. "How come it's not helpful? Can't you go just about anywhere with it?"

"Not really. How about I explain it while we head for the Shrine? I mean, you need a place to stay, and a christening and patron legend, of course. Didn't you say you didn't have a name?" Nia pointed at a street that led from the courtyard and started walking.

The eevee bounded after, slowing as she caught up. Thankfully, Nia didn't seem big on running, and they could chat more easily as they strolled along the streets.

"So, my teleportation normally lets me go anywhere where I have strong emotions. The beach where I found you? That's one of them. I found it with my best friend when we were younger, and we'd always play there, so I have no trouble."

"Oh. But that means you can still go to lots of the places you like, right?" the eevee asked. She swished her tail back and forth, and her ears pricked with curiosity. "So what's wrong with your teleportation?"

"Well, about five years ago, something interesting happened here."

Watching as Nia's gaze softened, and her pace slowed, the eevee wondered what that was. She guessed Nia would tell her.

"You see, one day, we just couldn't teleport to certain places anymore. So a bunch of people went out exploring to see why, and they came back one day and said that there was this great, huge chasm separating us from other lands."

The eevee's eyes widened. "And let me guess: no one could teleport across the chasm?"

Closing her eyes, Nia nodded. She smiled, but no happiness tinged her face. "My friend—he was a shinx, by the way—lived in Bolt City, a haven for electric and steel types. It's probably one of the biggest cities out there, and he used to come out for vacation, and I found one day that I could teleport out there."

"How far away was it?" the eevee interrupted.

Nia sighed. "It was a long ways. I think the trip usually took about a week, so the very idea that I could teleport so far was pretty amazing."

"I guess you two were pretty good friends, huh?"

Nodding, Nia looked away. In the light, the eevee swore she saw something shiny and wet escape the corner of her eyes.

"It's been five years, so I don't miss him as much as I used to, but I wonder if we'll ever get to meet again, you know?"

The eevee didn't really know—she had no memory of such friends—but she hoped someday she might have something like that. Less sad, of course, but it'd be really amazing to have a friend she loved so much that she could teleport huge distances just to hang out with them.

"Maybe you can be an explorer, and you'll find a way to cross the chasm," the eevee suggested, beaming. She really wanted to cheer up Nia.

"That's a good idea. Now let's hurry to the Shrine and get you a name, okay?" Nia picked up the pace, and the eevee had to trot to keep up.

They walked a few more blocks before reaching a huge building surrounded by elaborate flying buttresses and carvings. The windows glittered with millions of colored glass pieces, all glued together in amazing tapestries of color. From the eevee's perspective, it looked like a tower from heaven. Maybe it was, even.

"Here's the shrine," Nia said, gesturing to a set of grand, wooden doors. "Let's get you in there before they close up for the night."

Nia led the way, and as she passed through the giant doorway, she put her hands to her mouth and called out. "Hello? Priestess Millie? I have a guest who needs to stay the night."

The eevee didn't know where to look, but soon enough, a bright pink thing ran up the center aisle. Its belly was cream-colored, and its ears had the funniest shape, as though they'd been cut from paper for a fancy invitation. Trying to be discreet, the eevee leaned over.

"What kind of pokemon is that?" she whispered.

"The Priestess here is an audino," Nia explained. "They're really great healers, but Priestess Millie is especially strong and kind."

Turning back to the aisle, the eevee noticed that Priestess Millie stood right in front of them.

"Why hello there, Nia!" the Priestess said. "Who's your friend? Did you meet her by the ocean?"

Nia nodded. "She was passed out on the beach. Um… she hasn't got a name though, and I think she might be one of the humans from the legends, but we don't know for sure."

As though this simply could not do, the Priestess clapped her hands and gave a motherly frown. "We must give her a name then! Do come along, dears, and we'll get you fixed up straight away, little eevee."

She waddled back down the aisle, Nia and the eevee following behind. They turned right at the strange altar at the front of the building and exited into a short hallway. Looking around, the eevee noted how perfectly smooth the stone walls were, and that the vaulted ceiling was covered in vibrant paintings of majestic pokemon. She'd have to ask Nia about each one later.

They stopped at the end of the hall, where a set of rather conspicuous doors had been left open.

"This is our christening shrine," the Priestess explained, closing the doors as eevee and Nia entered. "All of the world's legends are painted on the hallway before it, and again in here." She walked to a small fountain at the center of the room and waved for the eevee to follow.

"Well, all of the legends except Lord Arceus. We believe it is a disgrace to make anything in his likeness."

Priestess Millie instructed the eevee to put her front paws up on the fountain ledge. After that, the eevee closed her eyes and waited as the Priestess chanted something in a strange language.

"Now, eevee, dip your paws in the water and search through your soul. Ask yourself who you are, what you want to become, and how you want to live your life."

The eevee did so, keeping her eyes squeezed shut the whole time. She frowned as she asked herself the questions.

_Who am I?_ She didn't know. Gulping, she asked it of herself again and tried to think harder. Something rustled behind her, and there was a small gasp.

Though the answer didn't come, she felt something click in her chest and moved onto the next question. _What do I want to become?_

Well, she thought, she'd like to be kind and caring and strong enough to effectively use those traits. Bravery too—that was important.

_How do I want to live my life?_ The eevee frowned at the water, her forehead wrinkling a tiny bit. She wanted to live freely, able to do as she pleased for as long as "as she pleased" was good and right, or at least good and right according to the romantic ideal that everyone could be happy.

A sudden warmth spread from her chest, and a second gasp reached her ears.

"Goodness! That's Xerneas, the fairy of life. My dear eevee, you may open your eyes now, and come, come and look!"

The eevee blinked back to the christening shrine and scurried to where Nia and the Priestess were standing. She looked at where Priestess Millie was pointing.

Xerneas looked like a deer or a moose. He was blue and black, mostly, but his horns sparkled in a zillion pastel shades. Admiring his picture, which was painted on the ceiling above, the eevee thought he looked like a very nice legend to have for a patron.

She was still staring at him when the Priestess nudged her, effectively shaking her from her trance. "I'm guessing you don't remember, but do you know your birthday?"

Quickly, the eevee shook her head. She didn't even know how dates worked here, let alone if she could use whatever day she'd once had.

The Priestess seemed to understand. Smiling, she led Nia and the eevee to a table on the edge of the room. A huge tomb lay open on it, and though its pages had clearly seen better days, it didn't seem dusty at all.

Priestess Millie leafed through a couple of pages. "Ah! Here we go. Let's see, if you can't remember your birthday, then we have to use your christening day, which is today, obviously." She put a finger to the page and dragged it down. "And if your patron is Xerneas, then… your name will be Mabel!"

Mabel. It seemed nice. The eevee tested it out, letting the name roll of her tongue.

"Maayy-beell," she said. Something tingled in her heart. "Oh, I love it!" Tail wagging, Mabel turned to the Priestess and thanked her profusely.

"Oh, no need to thank me! You might want to send a prayer to Xerneas, but really, all I did was show you how it's done." However humble she might be though, the Priestess could not stop beaming as she turned to Nia. "You said Mabel needed a place to stay, right? You're not bringing her to the guild?"

Shaking her head, Nia muttered something about inefficiency.

"Don't be like that," Priestess Millie said, wrapping an arm around each of the smaller pokemon. "Now that there are two of you, I'm sure the guild will let you start exploring."

As Nia leaned over, Mabel noticed a tentative shyness overcome the ralts's face. "Um… I hate to ask this of you right after arriving, but would you like to join my guild?"

Mable grinned. "Of course! You said yourself you wanted to rescue people, and I think that by exploring, you can do that! I'll support you in any way I can."

Though pink dashed Nia's cheeks, the ralts smiled back. "Then that's settled. Off to the Cantorsburg Exploration Guild!"

Priestess Millie led them the rest of the way to the courtyard surrounding the church. She waved them goodbye, her pink and cream colors matching the sky's array.

As the ralts and eevee walked onto a side street, Mabel turned to Nia and asked: "what does the exploration guild do, exactly?"

"Hmm, well, they explore these places called mystery dungeons to see if those places can act as portals between the shards of land that are left. Sometimes, they also mount expeditions to see if they can cross the chasms. Just last week, we sent an altaria to see how far he could fly, but he hasn't come back yet."

Mabel gave a little "oh" and watched the cobblestones pass under her feet for a few seconds. "It sounds kind of dangerous."

"It is," Nia said, "but if I'm ever going to see my friend again, I've got to do this. And maybe looking into the whole thing with you will make me able to help people, you know? I mean, if all the stories about humans are true, then maybe we'll save the world together or something."

Honestly, Mabel thought saving the world was a big order, but she smiled and looked up at the sky. "Maybe," she sighed.


	2. Chapter 2: The House Atop a Skyscraper

Toby remembered his name.

And aside from the vague notion that his skin had not been white, and he did not wear a green helmet all the time, that was all he remembered.

Staring at his reflection as it shimmered and warped in the pond below him, Toby muttered to himself. "I must have been human at one point, but now I'm a ghost or something." He raised a hand to look at it, and found no digits, or even a wrist. "A very useless one too, if I don't have opposable thumbs."

"What are opposable thumbs?" asked a voice from behind, "and who the heck are you?"

Toby whipped around, searching for something else like him, but all he saw was a funny-looking cat with a sour expression. Its black mane flipped up in something like a widow's peak, and its blue fur bristled visibly.

"I know you're not Nia," it growled. "Get out."

Though Toby wanted to panic at the thought of a housecat talking to him, he raised both hands in surrender and backed up until he was standing on rocky edge of the pond. "Listen," he started, "I don't know who Nia is, and yeah, I'm not them, but I'm sort of lost, and I don't know how I ended up here and I could really use some help."

"You're going to need some help if you don't get out," the cat said. It leapt off the raised deck it had been standing on and slunk towards Toby. "I've got a lovely dark-type move called 'bite' on my side, and if you don't leave here right now, so help me, I will bite you until you cannot even stand."

_Pushy, pushy_. Toby took a step forward, hands still in the air. "No seriously, I have no idea where I am." He threw his hands up higher, though this time it was in exasperation rather than defeat. "I don't even know _what_ I am!"

The cat seemed surprised by this, and it jerked its head backwards. "Wait, really?"

Toby nodded fervently.

"Oh. _Oh_." The cat seemed rather flustered then, and it looked around wildly before inching closer to Toby. "Um… you aren't, by any chance, a human, are you?"

So these things did know what humans were, at least. Toby nodded again, trying to avoid the cat's curious gaze. Instead, he focused on the garden around him, and on the house, which seemed to be made of equal parts metal and equal parts bamboo.

The cat sat back on its haunches, looking thoroughly bewildered. "Wow. I didn't think the legends would send anymore humans. And to think that I found you in my family's garden…" It swished its tail back and forth a few times before jumping to its feet. "Oh! What's your name then?"

"I'm Tobias, but I go by Toby." He was about to ask the creature's name when another thought popped out of his mouth. "Uh, could you tell me what exactly I am?" Toby waved his arms for emphasis, and the cat laughed.

"You're a ralts, a psychic and fairy-type pokemon, so I advise you to not draw too much attention while we're in the city."

"Why's that?" Toby asked.

The cat hummed for a moment, clearly trying to find the right words. "Well," he started, "we're in a place called Bolt City, and there are a lot of electric pokemon, like me, and steel-types. And well… fairy pokemon don't do so well against steel."

Somehow, Toby recalled something about iron chains on fairies, and decided to agree with the cat's explanation.

"And before you forget to ask," the cat continued, "I'm Flash, and I'm a luxio."

That was helpful, actually. Wondering how many species he would have to learn, Toby asked what other pokemon there were.

"Oh, there are tons and tons!" Flash said. "Hey! I have a book with most of them in my room, why don't we go in?"

Toby sort of liked the garden and the serenity that it exuded, but he followed Flash inside anyways.

The inside of the house seemed much like the outside. Metal and nature combined in effortless, soothing patterns that made Toby wonder how anyone might think they couldn't mix. The floors were covered in mats, but metal pips ran between rooms and circled the hallways. Sometimes, a wisp of steam would curl from two joined pipes, and Toby gathered that this was a kind of heating system.

Eventually, they reached a door with a small picture frame hanging from it. As Flash opened the door and strode in, Toby caught view of Flash with another ralts grinning beside him. It wasn't a photograph—whatever a photograph was—but the watercolors were so realistic that he almost thought it was.

He stopped at the door and examined it again. "Who's in this picture?" he asked.

Flash froze. He frowned and looked at the floor before climbing onto a raised pallet and staring out a wide window. "That's Nia, a ralts I knew as a kid. She used to teleport here until five years ago, this giant, bottomless cliff showed up and split the city into thirds. I guess she just couldn't cross the chasms, even with her psychic abilities."

"Did she live in the city?" Toby asked.

"No, she lived really far away, so far that it took us a week to travel there as a family. I used to really miss her, and I still wish we could meet up, but time goes by, you know?"

Toby murmured some kind of sympathy, but he was more curious about why the other ralts's teleportation no longer worked. It was odd, really. What kind of barrier existed between all the pieces of land out there?

A minute later, Flash bumped Toby with the spine of a huge book and swung his head towards an open spot on the floor. "You wanted to see some more kinds of pokemon, right?" he said, though it came out funny since the book was clenched between his teeth.

The two pokemon plopped down on the floor, and Flash opened the book. They flipped through it for hours, probably, with Flash explaining all the species as they leafed through page after page. Time seemed to slow down for those hours, but it sprung back to normal when a knock rang at Flash's door.

"Flash?"

The luxio's snout curled in guilt. He shot Toby an "oops" kind of look before yelling back. "Yes, mom?"

"Come eat lunch. You can't stay holed up in your room all day."

"Uh… is it okay if I have a friend with me? He just sort of showed up without warning, and you seemed busy earlier."

The door swung open, and a luxray poked her head in. She squinted at Toby before sending a questioning glance toward her son.

"You don't normally see ralts around here," she said. "Not that it matters that much, I suppose. Come, you can eat with us too."

As the two boys stood up, Toby realized that he could sense confusion permeating the room. Well, he was a psychic, he supposed.

The three pokemon needed an elevator to reach the dining room, and when Toby walked in, he saw a lot more pokemon than whatever Flash's family was made of. A group of manectric and electrikes gathered around some tables closer to the entrance, while magnemites, magnetons, and even a magnezone hovered nearby. Here with all these electric pokemon, Toby felt more than a little out of place.

"We're a small family," Flash said, "so we like to eat with the people living on the lower floors of the building. It makes it more fun, you know?"

Though initially weirded out by the bright colors of all the fruits and berries, Toby found his appetite ravenous enough that he ate at least four whole berries, plus a huge apple. Stuffed to the brim, he leaned back on the wall behind him and closed his eyes.

He did not have the luxury of relaxing for long though; a crackly voice called his name from across the table.

"Toby, eh? How'd someone like you get to Bolt City?"

An ampharos was leaning on the table, a smile gracing his face. His tail swayed slowly behind him, and he seemed nice enough.

"I just sort of ended up here," Toby said, sending a glance to Flash. What was he supposed to say to this guy?

Luckily, Flash seemed to catch his drift. "Dad," he said, "Toby was in our garden this morning, and he doesn't remember much."

"Oh? That's fascinating. How'd you get into the garden, Toby?"

No matter how hard Toby thought, he couldn't answer that. Just for show, he pretended to think about it. "I don't really know, sir."

"Huh. Fell from the sky, basically? Reminds me of the first time Nia teleported here. You wouldn't happen to know another ralts named Titania, would you? Or maybe she's a kirlia by now."

Toby shook his head. He'd just gotten to this world; of course he didn't know anyone named Titania.

"Shame," said Flash's dad. "Well, if that's the case, then I guess that settles everything. Flash, you were right about this one." He turned towards Flash's mom and called out. "Tabitha? I think we need to have that discussion again."

The luxray glared at her husband so coldly that Toby figured she was looking at his organs and thinking of how to rip them out. "No."

"I don't think we have a choice this time, dear."

"No. My answer is final." Flash's mom turned back to the manectric she was chatting to.

Shrugging, the ampharos climbed over the table and whispered in his wife's ear. Her eyes widened significantly, and an air of surprise pierced the air. She swiveled towards the ampharos and whispered back to him.

"I think so, and you know what the metagross said."

"But surely not Flash!"

They locked eyes for a moment, and Toby looked to Flash to see what he thought of the commotion. Like Toby, the luxio was listening in, confused by the lack of context. Toby swore he saw his new friend mouth something like "what metagross?"

By then, the whole dining room had quieted, and Flash's parents soon realized this. They glanced around the room before calling Flash and Toby to follow them.

The elevator ride back to the house felt long and tense, and Toby picked up on a rather large amount of fear. As he and Flash followed the older pokemon through the winding hallways of the house, he wondered what would happen next.

They stopped at a set of sliding doors with a cityscape painted on in black ink. Flash's dad opened the doors and ushered everyone inside before closing them and facing the three other pokemon.

"Flash," he said, "do you realize who you have found?"

"Uh… well we figure Toby's probably a human, right Toby?"

Toby nodded, and Flash kept going.

"But like-

The ampharos cut him off, voice sharp and charged. Anxiety seemed to puncture his words. "No. No buts, Flash. You must take this seriously. If Toby really is a human, and we know from the metagross's final prophecies five years ago that he likely is, then you must travel with him."

"I have to?" A visible lump formed in Flash's throat.

"Yes. I know you've been a homebody since evolving, but you found a human, and you're going to go with him whether we want you to or not. Understand? No matter how hard we try to stop it, something will inevitably force you and Toby to travel and fix this world."

It was obvious that Flash had not thought this far ahead. Maybe he'd been too caught up in the excitement of a new friend to realize that something serious might come out of this.

Without thinking about it, Toby slapped Flash's back and grinned as widely as he could. "Hey," he said, "don't worry! I'm sure we face all of this with no problem."

"But we'd have to join an exploration guild!"

Flash's mom butted in there. "What's wrong with that? You and Nia used to always pretend you were famous adventurers."

"When we were kids! I want to help you guys with your business, not gallivant off to save the world."

Suddenly, Flash's dad burst into crackling chuckles. Something about the room lightened considerably, though Toby couldn't quite figure out why.

"That's what you're worried about, son? Then there's nothing to worry about. You know your parents have several explorers in our employ, right? We started hiring right after the chaos five years ago to see if we could reconnect with our old trading partners." Still laughing, the ampharos twirled around and flung open the doors. "Now come along, boys! This old 'mon is going to teach you how to be an explorer!"

As the ampharos bounded out of the room, Toby sensed exasperation oozing from Flash's mom. He offered Flash a reassuring smile and then ran to catch up with the older pokemon.

**Author's Note: **it seems I forgot the disclaimer last time. Oops.

I do not own pokemon, and it would be hopeless to try owning it.

Um... some other things I have to say: I am still settling into the characters right now, which is why things might seem sudden and odd. Also, I highly doubt there will be many more instances where I update more than once a week. Maybe even once a month. Who knows?

Reviews and comments are much appreciated. Thank you for reading!


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